Man on Film: I Love You, Man

So it has been almost two weeks since I actually went to this, which could be interpreted in a few ways. The first way could be that I was not crazy about this film and put off writing anything about it as a result of a lukewarm reaction to the film. The second being that other things pressed their way to the forefront. The third, there has not been enough time in the day to get around to writing this entry with the baseball season finally getting under way and my Royals fandom now eating up a good chunk of my free time.

To alleviate your concerns, the first explanation is not even remotely on the mark. There is a shred of truth to the other factors. Obviously, the Royals blog has been drawing my attention its way. There were also a couple of concerts that necessitated their inclusion on the blog. The Eddie Money entry certainly wasn't pressing but was a quick way to get some content up that I found awesome on a personal level. You will have to excuse me, but as a ten-year-old living in Rochester, Minnesota, I owned Eddie Money's historic Nothing to Lose featuring "Walk on Water" and "The Love in Your Eyes". My having taken issue with Watchmen seemed like something that needed to be written about sooner than my predictable feelings for I Love You, Man so that explains that.

Anyway, on to the film...

I Love You, Man was pretty goddamn funny. Unlike some of the films which members of Team Apatow since Knocked Up* (I know Judd wasn't involved with this one, but it does feature two of the Apatow players--well, three really, as Rashida Jones goes all the way back to "Freaks and Geeks") are involved, I think my expectations were fairly tempered for this one. I had super-high hopes for Superbad but was slightly let down. I had tempered expectations for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and was delightfully surprised. The only one that kicked the ass of my high expectations was the amazing Pineapple Express. So, here was another that I thought would be funny but was not convinced that it would be great, and I left the theater very pleased.

Rudd stars as the slightly effeminate Peter Klaven who is generally awkward in dealing with other men. He's in a fencing club, and he even finds trouble bonding with those men on a meaningfully masculine level. Upon proposing to his girlfriend, Zooey (played by Jones), Peter decides that he needs to try to find male friends largely because he has no one for his wedding party. His ill-fated early attempts at finding a male friend are really funny, with "Reno 911"'s Thomas Lennon making an especially funny appearance as a gay man misunderstanding the set up with Peter. His many attempts at bonding with men, trying to bridge the gap between acquaintance and buddy fail epically.

That is, of course, until he meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel). Their bond is hilarious, and Fife seems like a guy who will say anything but always have the back of his friend. As a fan of surprise in comedy, I'll refrain from giving away too much, but their love of a certain prog band, the prominence of Lou Ferrigno, and an ad campaign make for some great laughs. And this didn't seem to be a film of appeal to only males in the audience, as the ladies in the crowd seemed to be laughing as heartily as the gents.